The book titles in the series always follow the format of the first, changing only the year: for instance, The Best American Poetry 1988.
"[1] A compendium for the first decade of the series has also been published, The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988–1997, guest-edited by literary critic Harold Bloom, who selected what he regarded as the seventy-five best poems from the previous ten anthologies.
This was followed in 2013 by The Best of the Best American Poetry: 25th Anniversary Edition (2013), in which guest editor Robert Pinsky selected 100 poems from the series' history.
The Academy website called the introductions to the collection by the guest editors, as well as Lehman's "state-of-poetry" forewords, "indespensible".
"[1] However, the Academy article also noted that the series and its editors are "often criticized for their selections and assessments (common complaints include the exclusion of experimental poets, lack of diversity, and allegiance to poetry's "old guard") [...]"[1]